We received a letter the other week for a recall for our 4 year old Suzuki to have a part replaced in relation to the brakes. It seems that it isn't dangerous, but I guess we'll have to have it carried out in case it affects the insurance.
We're a bit miffed about the whole thing as we bought it from Velez Malaga where there's a workshop, but they say we have to take it to Malaga. It's not somewhere we go a lot and it's a 120km round trip so we've been putting it off. Today I Whatsapped the Malaga branch to make an appointment after 12pm as the letter clearly states that it will take less than 2 hours if we make an appointment. They've come back and said that if we take it in at 12 then we can't have the car back until the next day . It will need to be taken in first thing if we want it back by 4pm the same day. We said we can't be there before 11 and are awaiting their response to that as they said reluctantly they'll see if they can do it in the day. We're not early risers and we are just not prepared to get the car there earlier when, as it is, we'll have to kill 5 hours there despite the fact it's a job that takes less than two.
I don't think we're being unreasonable as it is a product recall and not by choice we are taking for repair. I'm just hoping that nothing else will need doing like this as we usually buy things locally 'just in case' something goes wrong and we need to take it back. Obviously the Velez Malaga branch of Suzuki is pretty useless if they cannot do this repair. As it was, they took us to Malaga for the test drive although our new car was delivered to the local branch, so perhaps we should have been forewarned
Manufacturer recall
- Enrique
- Andalucia Guru
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- Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:47 am
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Re: Manufacturer recall
Hi Wicksey,
Interesting they want the car for so long...........from a Recall site...........
"As a remedial measure, the check valve is checked in the workshop and replaced if necessary. The repair time varies between 55 and 95 minutes."
Interesting they want the car for so long...........from a Recall site...........
"As a remedial measure, the check valve is checked in the workshop and replaced if necessary. The repair time varies between 55 and 95 minutes."
All my best learning experiences start with a problem I need to solve.
Re: Manufacturer recall
This is one of my pet hates with Spanish garages. They just see a one hour job as something theydo at their convenience to smooth workflow. Dealers are the worst. Next time I am going to have a courrtesy car, 30 euros ,and go back the next day
Re: Manufacturer recall
Warranty / recall work is charged at a different rate, its about 60 % less per hour than retail customers pay so you are not a priority. They will fit you in between jobs so need the car for half a day usually. Its not hard to spend 5 or 6 hours in Malaga city tho.
Re: Manufacturer recall
They have grudgingly booked us in for 11am but if it's any later they cannot guarantee that the car will be ready at 4pm. The letter clearly states it can be completed in less than 2 hours if an appointment is made. Goodness knows what you do if you are at work all day (and not in Malaga city). Suzuki dealers are few and far between so there's nowhere else to go (so don't buy a car from your 'local' dealer like we did and then find it doesn't actually do any repairs there for some reason!).
I agree with you Olive, but we really don't want to have to drive to and from Malaga twice. We just wanted it all done in a day. We never use main dealers for anything, they charge 3x the price for a service to what we paid for ours to be done locally, and these days it's only oil and filters for the first few years .... total rip off. My FiL always insisted in using his main dealer and was charged a fortune each time.
We shall walk 20 mins to the nearest metro station and go into the city, but even then it's a long day for something that should have been done in a morning. Thankfully my trapped nerve has healed a lot and I am walking a lot better these days, but not everyone wants to spend a day hanging around in Malaga for hours.
I agree with you Olive, but we really don't want to have to drive to and from Malaga twice. We just wanted it all done in a day. We never use main dealers for anything, they charge 3x the price for a service to what we paid for ours to be done locally, and these days it's only oil and filters for the first few years .... total rip off. My FiL always insisted in using his main dealer and was charged a fortune each time.
We shall walk 20 mins to the nearest metro station and go into the city, but even then it's a long day for something that should have been done in a morning. Thankfully my trapped nerve has healed a lot and I am walking a lot better these days, but not everyone wants to spend a day hanging around in Malaga for hours.
Re: Manufacturer recall
After a seven and a half hour day today we have got the car repair done. When we got there the service manager just tapped on his computer for over 20 mins, then disappeared, came back and said they'd need to look and see if we did actually need this part replacing or not. This would take 10 minutes and if we did need it replaced, they'd have to order the part and we'd have to make another appointment and return Having spent some time the other week making the appointment via Whatsapp and sending them copies of the recall letter, wouldn't you have thought that they'd be ready for us and have the part there
We then got lost in his rapid explanation so he used Google translate to explain that "due to a cancellation" they did have the part after all, and to return by 5pm to collect the car I think he must have seen our faces when he said that we may have to return .... we were not happy. Anyway, it's been done now but it was a long and hot day for a job that was supposed to take less than two hours.
As an aside, we checked before going and found we could walk to a metro station about 20 mins or so away to get into the city centre. Very impressive, and we popped up out of the station right next door to our favourite sherry bar https://antiguacasadeguardia.com/
We then got lost in his rapid explanation so he used Google translate to explain that "due to a cancellation" they did have the part after all, and to return by 5pm to collect the car I think he must have seen our faces when he said that we may have to return .... we were not happy. Anyway, it's been done now but it was a long and hot day for a job that was supposed to take less than two hours.
As an aside, we checked before going and found we could walk to a metro station about 20 mins or so away to get into the city centre. Very impressive, and we popped up out of the station right next door to our favourite sherry bar https://antiguacasadeguardia.com/
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